Hi,
My 9 year-old son was diagnosed with ADHD and CAPD in September. After 90 days on the meds, I had him re-tested for the CAPD and he is still in the “significant” range. The meds have helped, but there are other issues I see with him. After reading posts on several forums and listservs I began to notice NLD. I started to look into it a couple of times, but one of the biggest diagnositc factors for NLD is a 10-15 point discrepancy between Performance and Verbal scores on the WISC-III. His verbal is higher, but only by 4 points. I also understand the scores can be skewed somewhat because of the ADHD and the CAPD. I kept seeing the NLD posts, and it sounded so much like my son, I looked into it further. I read several very good articles here, and the NLD fits my son to a ‘T’ with the exception of the point discrepancy (what is it about point discrepancies, anyway!?).
He’s taken the WJ-III, the WISC-III, the SCAN-C, the SSW, dichotic digits, the TOLD-III, the Bender Visual-Motor-Gestalt, the Dev. Test of Visual-Motor Integration, the Gray Oral and Silent Reading Tests, CTOPP, and the TOWRE.
I’ve been to a private psychologist seperate from everyone who has dealt with my son to have him review the records and give me an unbiased opinion. He shrugged his shoulders. My son sees a neurologist monthly for the ADHD.
So my question is: How do I get him diagnosed? I think all the information is here, including parental observations (and I have friends who will write observations similar to mine about social skills). Where do I go? What will I get with the diagnosis that I might not get without the diagnosis?
Thanks,
Lil
Re: Nonverbal Learning Disorder
Tyger is right that while a split between VIQ and PIQ is common, there are reasons that some people with NLD don’t show this. To find out for sure whether you son has NLD you will probably need a full neuropsych eval. They may be able to work with some of the testing already done, but will also probably want to do more of their own. A lot of a neuropsych eval depends on observations during testing.
Karen
Re: Nonverbal Learning Disorder
Thanks, Karen and Tyger
We see the neurologist in early April - I’ll ask her for a referral to a neuropsych.
Thanks,
Lil
I honestly don’t know how one would go about getting diagnosed as NLD. I, too fit the profile (albeit to a *very* mild extent), but have always been coded as SLD (specific learning disability in visuo-perceptual areas). My understanding of diagnosis, though is that it is not necessarily contingent upon the VIQ-PIQ split, especially if there is subtest scatter. CAPD itself might pull down the VIQ.
has some good articles about diagnosis and assessment, as well as a Q & A from Dr. Rourke, who’s one of the prominent researchers in the field (though I’m not sure I like his general approach all that much, he does give precise answers to questions about NLD and assessment.
This website also has a discussion forum that may be helpful as well (the people are generally helpful).
Good luck!
-J